The Dark Side of Revelation

Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that Forbidden tree whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world and all our woe
John Milton Paradise Lost

The battle between good and evil in the Bible comes from a superstitious fear of darkness (See Light verses Darkness. Here's the outline: On the first day of creation, God created light. The first sin brought darkness. God conquers darkness in Revelation. The Apocalypse brings a world without darkness, a world without sin.

The First and the Last

Above all else, the Bible sees the battle of good verses evil as the battle of light verses darkness, personified as God verses Satan. God prevails in the Book of Revelation. He is first and the last.

12"Behold,I am coming soon, bringing my recompense, to repay every one for what he has done. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." (Rev. 22:12-13)

We remember when in Genesis, God brought order to the chaos of darkness by creating light on the first day. This was not light from the sun and the moon. Those were created on the forth day.

2The
earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the
deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. 3And God said, "Let there be
light"; and there was light. 4And God saw that the light
was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light Day,
and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was
morning, one day. (Gen. 1:2-5)

There was no sin in the world until Adam knew good and evil after eating from the tree of knowledge. The first sin brought death unto the world. To prevent Adam from taking from the Tree of Life, it would be guarded by the flaming sword.

22Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever” 23therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. 24He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. (Gen 3:22-24)

Roughly four thousand years of biblical time has passed. The only innocent man to walk earth was Jesus. As long as he is in the world, there is light.

5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. (John 9:5)

When he was crucified, darkness came over the land. The light went out when he died.

45Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 46And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice,“Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is,“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matt. 27:45-46, Luke 15:33-34)

Revelation takes us through a serie of catastrophes before it gets to the heavenly city of Jerusalem. The number twelve corresponds to the twelve constellations of the Zodiac. It has three gates in each quandrant. The colors of jewels correspond to the colors of the stars.

And in the Spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed;
on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.
And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (Rev. 21-10-14)

Again, the jewels correspond to the the stars.

The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass.
The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every jewel; the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald,
the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass. (Rev. 21:18-21)

Just as on the first day in Genesis, God becomes the light. This time there is no need for the sun and the moon. Whereas in Genesis, God separated light from dark, leaving darkness to spread evil. This time God, conquers darkness so there will be no evil.

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
By its light shall the nations walk; and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it,
and its gates shall never be shut by day—and there shall be no night there;
they shall bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.
But nothing unclean shall enter it, nor any one who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (Rev. 21:22-27)

The symbolism of a world without darkness continues. The River of Life describes the Milky Way. The Lamb represents the Age of Aries in the first century.

Then he showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
There shall no more be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall worship him;
they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads.
And night shall be no more; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they shall reign for ever and ever. (Rev. 22:1-5)